Railway car structure



April 26, 1938. E. P. MOSES RAILWAY CAR STRUCTURE Original Filed June 6. 1936 Patented Apr. 26, 1938 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE Original application 83,945. Divided and June 6, 1936, Serial No.

this application November 29, 1937, Serial No. 176,976

6 Claims.

The invention relates to railway rolling stock and comprises elements of vehicle underframe construction and more particularly the portions of an underframe which are concerned with the transmission of draft and bufling and load sustaining forces between the draft gear, draft sill or center sill, and bolster, including also the center plate structure.

The main object of the invention is to reinforce the draft sill bolster and center plate structure as may be desirable for heavy service requirements.

Another object of the invention is to eliminate maintenance expense and out-of-service delays on account of loosening of members customarily secured by rivets and bolts to each other and to the main parts of the underframe referred to.

Preferably the desired results are obtained by forming the parts integrally with each other as, for example, in a one-piece casting, which will eliminate fitting and assembling and reduce the amount of machining operations required to complete this portion of the underframe. Reference is here made to similar disclosure in applicantscopending application Serial No. 83,945, filed June 6, 1936, of which the present application is a division.

The above-mentioned objects and other detailed objects as indicated below are obtained by the structure illustrated in the accompanying drawing, in which- Figure l is a top view of the'end portion of a car underframe structure embodying the essentials of the present invention.

Figure 2 is a longitudinal vertical section taken on the line 22 of Figure l, and drawn on an enlarged scale.

Figure 3 is a detailed vertical section taken approximately on the line 3-3 of Figure 2 and drawn on a larger scale.

The structure illustrates the forward portion of a center sill member I, which may be of in- -verted U-shape or box girder type, with suitable recesses 2 in one or more walls to lighten the structure and facilitate casting operations. The forward portion of the center sill or a draft sill extension thereof is indicated as having a top wall 3 and side walls 4 with outwardly projecting flanges 5 at their lower edges.

Extending transversely of the sill structure are bolster arms each comprising a vertical web 6 and upper and lower flanges I and 9, respectively, the upper flanges merging with the top wall of the center structure and the lower flanges merging with the bottom of the sill structure.

At the intersection of the bolster and center sill, I provide a downward projection 9 forming an integral center plate member and having the usual center plate contours and constituting, in effect, a depression in the bottom wall of the bolster and sill structure. A tubular member !0 extends vertically upwardly from the center of member 9 and forms a strut-like member. Member II] also serves as a housing for the king pin (not shown) such as is used ordinarily to connect the underframe and truck T.

A vertical transverse web l3 at the rear of center plate 9 forms, in effect, a portion of the bolster structure and reinforces the longitudinal sill structure at this point. A vertical rib I l extends between elements l0 and i3 and downwardly into the lowermost part of center plate 9.

A transverse horizontal web l4 extends between draft sill walls 4 for a short distance forwardly of center plate 9 and a relatively heavy draft gear stop block l5 extends upwardly from web l4 and is connected to member I0 by a centrally disposed vertical rib IB opposite to rib II. Diagonal braces I! connect block I5 and the center plate structure extending downwardly into the lowermost portion of the latter.

Preferably the draft sill and bolster structure are further braced by gusset member l8 and a reservoir tank l9, diagnonal braces 20 being connected to such members and extending to the outer corners of the underframe.

The above described structure comprises a simple arrangement of the center plate which is easily cast notwithstanding the necessity for various elements extending in different directions for resisting the forces applied to this part of the underframe. The structure also avoids any heavy masses of metal at intersections of load carrying and force resisting members, thereby facilitating the production of the structure in a one-piece casting.

The device may include numerous other elements than those indicated, such as usually associated with draft sill and bolster structure, and, as an example of such elements, I refer to the striking plate l9, coupler carrier 20 and draft yoke key supporting ribs 2|. The draft gear is indicated diagrammatically at G and in itself forms no part of the present invention. Obviously the bufflng shocks applied thereto will be transmitted through elements l5, l6 and II to the center plate structure rather than to the bolster arms at points spaced above the truck center plate, thus tending to reduce or eliminate overturning moments on the bolster webs and other destructive forces.

Obviously there are no center plate rivets or other securing elements to be loosened, and other advantages as previously referred to are obtained by the structure described. Various changes in the details may be made without departing from the spirit of the invention and the exclusive use of such modifications as come within the scope of the claims is contemplated.

I claim:

1. A railway draft sill structure comprisins spaced vertical webs and a bottom wall integral therewith and having a depressed portion forming a center plate, an upstanding draft stop integral with said bottom wall and spaced from said vertical webs and center plate, and reinforcing ribs extending from said draft stop longitudinally of the sill structure into the depression in said bottom wall and merging with the latter to brace said center plate and stop.

2. A railway draft sill structure comprising spaced vertical webs, a bottom wall integral therewith with a depressed portion forming a center plate, an upstanding draft stop integral with said bottom wall and spaced from said vertical webs and centerplate, a tubular reinforcing member integral with and extending upwardly from the central portion of said center plate, and reinforcing ribs extending from said draft stop longitudinally of the sill structure at the sides of said tubular member and into the depression in said bottom wall and merging with the latter to brace said center plate and stop.

3. A railway draft sill structure including spaced vertical longitudinal webs and a bottom wall between said webs having a depressed por-,

tion forming a'oenter plate, a draft stop extending upwardly from said bottom wall and spaced from said vertical webs, and a vertical reinforcing rib extending from said draft stop longitudinally of the structure into the depressed por-' tion of said bottom wall and merging with the latter to brace said stop and center plate from each other.

4. A railway draft sill structure including spaced vertical longitudinal webs and a bottom wall between said webs having a depressed portion forming a center plate, a draft stop extending upwardly from said bottom wall and spaced from said vertical webs, a tubular reinforcing member extending upwardly from the center of said center plate forming portion, and vertical reinforcing ribs extending from said draft stop longitudinally of the sill structure at the sides of said tubular member and into the depressed portion of said bottom wall to brace said stop and center plate from each other independently of said tubular member.

5. In a railway underframe structure, spaced vertical longitudinal sill webs, bolster arm vertical webs extending outwardly from said sill webs, a bottom wall between said sill webs having a depression forming a center plate, a transverse upright wall between said sill webs at the rear of said center plate and bolster arm webs, a draft stop extending upwardly from said bottom wall and spaced from said sill webs, a tubular reinforcing member extendingupwardly from the center of said center plate and spaced from said webs, wall and stop, and upright ribs extending into said depression and bracing said member, transverse wall, stop and center plate from each other.

6. In a. railway underframe structure, spaced vertical longitudinal sill webs, a top wall between said sill webs, a bottom wall between said sill webs having a depression forming a center plate, bolster arm vertical webs extending outwardly from said sill webs, a bolster top wall merging with said latter mentioned webs and with said sill top wall, a transverse upright wall between said sill webs at the rear of said center plate and bolster arm webs, a draft stop extending upwardly from said bottom wall and spaced from said sill webs, 'a tubular reinforcing member extending upwardly from the center of said center plate and spaced from said webs, wall and draft stop, and upright ribs extending into said depression and bracing said member, transverse wall, draft stop, and center plate from each other, the tops of said tubular member, draft stop and ribs being spaced substantially below said top wall.

I EDWIN P. MOSES. 

